Island Heritage ‘Charity Drive’ 2013 beginning on 16 April

All members of the public will have the chance to help raise money for three local charities next week, when Island Heritage Insurance Company holds its three-day “Charity Drive” event.

Charity Drive runs from 7am to 7pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 16 to 18 April. During these times, for every car that drives over the Island Heritage roundabout, the company will donate $1 to charity. On each day, a different charitable organisation will benefit, with a maximum of $10,000 being donated each day.

“Island Heritage was looking for a way to not only give money to deserving causes, but to get the community involved in making sure the charities received the funds proposed,” said Monique Bush, marketing and communications manager at Island Heritage.

Members of the public are not asked to make any monetary donations themselves. Simply driving across the Island Heritage on the Esterley Tibbets roundabout is sufficient to register one’s support. Traffic sensors provided by the National Roads Authority will be placed on road lanes in both directions and every time a car drives over one of the sensors, Island Heritage will donate $1 to that day’s charity.

Donations to local charities

Charity Drive was held for the first time in 2012, with each day’s donations going to a different organisation. Last year, the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, Meals on Wheels and the Cayman Islands Humane Society each received $10,000 donations from Island Heritage.

This year, the insurance company opened up the event to all charities and nonprofit organisations in the Cayman Islands, inviting them to submit an application to participate.

“We were pleased with the some 22 applications received and thank each of the charities for their efforts in submitting,” Ms Bush said. “Following the written application, the Charity Drive selection committee met to go over all of the information provided and settle on the deserving three.”

This year the chosen charities are:

Tuesday 16: National Council of Voluntary Organisations

Wednesday 17: Cayman National Cultural Foundations

Thursday 18: Cayman Islands Red Cross

Each of the organisations has plans to direct the donation they receive to specific areas of operations. NCVO will channel funds into its children’s services programmes, such as the Jack and Jill Nursery, Miss Nadine’s Pre-School and the Nadine Andreas Foster Home.

The CNCF plans to use funds to not only subsidise their summer camp and make it accessible to more children, but also to promote the youth category of the annual online photography competition and to fund the prize of a attending a film course in New York, for the Young Image Makers competition.

The Cayman Island Red Cross plans to enhance its emergency response capacity as well as continuing to train volunteers.

Support online

In 2013, Island Heritage is also adding a social media dimension to the campaign, with an additional $5,000 earmarked for the organisation that receives the most support through Facebook and Twitter.

In order to show one’s support online, members of the public can visit the Island Heritage Facebook page, and click the support button on any, or each, of the three days. Only one click per day is possible, but one can support by visiting the Facebook page every day of the drive.

For Twitter users, mention @charitydriveky on the designated day(s) to lend online support.

The organisation that generates the most Facebook support and Twitter mentions on their designated day will receive the additional $5,000.